This time the email was sent off to a gentleman by the name of Bob Pickett who is a radio deejay for the corporate entity iheartradio.com.

They do a centralized model where one deejay broadcasts and affiliate stations pick up the feed.

If you listen to Albuquerque’s radio station 104.7, the oldies country station, then you might know who Mr. Pickett is.

I am able to listen to the station for free by streaming it on the internet, and so I listen to it every day while I work. It’s a pretty good station, especially for an old fart like me.

But here’s where I ran into a difference of opinion with Mr. Pickett.

I’ll let you read for yourself:

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Hello Mr. Pickett – My name is Karen and I just wanted to drop a line to ask a favor.

I listen to the radio station 104.7 out of Albuquerque every day at work. I listen all day long as the music is a great backdrop for getting my job done, and I can’t thank you enough for your part in all that.

Now, to get to the heart of the matter:

I gotta tell you, I love Merle Haggard. Adore him. His music is essential to my life. I even saw him in concert recently.

Well, now, here’s my request.

Out of all of ol’ Merle’s very deep song catalog, I’d have to say that “Okie from Muskogee” isn’t one of my top faves. I mean, I like it, but only sometimes.

It seems like every afternoon while I’m tip typing away at my work email I hear “Okie from Muskogee.” Sometimes I’ll sing along or tap my toes, but mostly I just wait for it to be over so I can hear what you’ll play next.

I was wondering if I might hear a few other Merle hits over the course of the week? Maybe we hear Okie once or twice, but sometimes there is a “Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star” or a “Silver Wings” or maybe a “Mama Tried” in there to keep it interesting?

Of course, you know your job better than I and so I hope I haven’t been offensive in asking this question.

Thanks for all you do! You’re a real pleasure to listen to and I love hearing your stories and encounters with country celebrities.

Well, thanks for hearing me out.

Best to you and your family,

Karen

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I sent this little missive out on Thursday afternoon and haven’t heard a peep since.

And when I hear “Okie from Muskogee” this afternoon I’ll turn down the radio and wait for it to pass……

I don’t expect a change in their programming anytime soon, it just felt kind of good to write.

After suffering the slings and arrows of my eye checkup yesterday, I drove home in the pouring rain and freezing wind, then decided to stop off at my local Safeway to pick up a few items.

After a long and cranky week, I decided to whip up a batch of my homemade caramel sauce and I needed ingredients along with ice cream, whipped cream and lovely salty chopped nuts to complete the sundae I had in mind.

Over in the ice cream section, I looked (through dilated eyes) at the topping choices, and selected chopped almonds and pecans (my two favorites in the nut kingdom) in a can with a photo of Paula Deen. They were a little gourmet, but on sale and seemed like a nice treat.

Yum!

Later that evening, as my caramel bubbled on the stove, I popped open the can of nuts to find one large clump of nuts stuck together. I broke off a pecan and tasted it. It was stale and rubbery.

I turned the can over and discovered that the contents had expired in September 2010.

I’d bought this item five months past the expiration date. FIVE months.

Then I sighed. This has become an epidemic in my area. It doesn’t matter what grocery store I visit, including Safeway, Trader Joe’s or Lucky, I *always* find expired items on the shelves.

Sure, we all dutifully check expiration dates on meat and dairy products, but do you ever bother to look at the expiration date on prepackaged food? I never did, but now I’m a bit of fanatic about it.

The worst, by far, was when I bought a brick of the “processed cheese food” known as Velveeta. I was making a party dip and nothing else will do.

When I opened the foil covering, the brick of cheese was dry and had turned a gross dark orange. I looked at the expiration date, and the block had expired over a year prior. A YEAR!

I took that freaking thing back to the store and demanded that the clerk look at the cheesy abomination. He was as horrified as I was, and promptly gave me my money back.

Here’s my theory…

I suspect that given the tougher economic times, people aren’t buying as much as they once did, so inventory isn’t naturally turning.

Add to that, grocery stories are trying to keep their doors open and have reduced their staff, trying to get by with as few people as possible on the payroll.

What that means is the staff in place can’t be as diligent about freshening inventory as they should be.

It’s a reasonable explanation but doesn’t make me any happier.

So, friends and dear readers, a reminder…check the expiration dates on EVERY item you lift from the shelves of your local grocer. Every item.

I’m pretty diligent about this, and even I forget sometimes (like yesterday).

Just, ew.

Photo from WikiMedia username Mattes and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

It’s a cold rainy day in the Bay Area today and the ubiquitous “they” seem to think we’re going to have snow today, maybe even in the middle of San Francisco.

Snow? Here? Gah! The Bay Area will lose its ever loving mind.

But that’s not the point.

Today I’m angry, pissy, hostile and downright grumpy. My right wrist still hurts so much it wakes me up at night. I took my gimp to the doctor lady and she fitted me into a wrist brace. This @$%#ing thing limits my movement (doing its job, I suppose) and it is frustrating!

When I rip the thing off then my wrist hurts double. And I get angrier.

I don’t like being weak and showing my weakness. I’m the gazelle that the lions will go for first! The limping one!

Apparently I’m a brute when I write. I love using felt tip pens but mush them to nothingness within a week or two. All of my Sharpies are not a bit sharp. I just threw out a whole handful.

I am anal about only using pencils that have a very sharp point, but they either break or go nubby within a few sentences. And mechanical pencils! Sheesh. Anything less than a sturdy .5 size and I’m snapping the lead off left and right!

My kingdom for a good sturdy point!

But the point isn’t really the point either.

I’ve been watching the complete Boston Legal series lately. The Good Man got the set for Christmas and we both adore the show.

I love when Alan Shore goes on a riff and a judge cuts him off with a “you’ve made your point, counselor.”

Once, in the middle of a somewhat terse discussion with The Good Man, when he was Alan Shore-ing me, I dropped that phrase on him. In a snotty tone.

Needless to say, that didn’t go well.

I’ve not used it since.

My “you’ve made your point” isn’t really the point, either.

“It’s rude to point” you hear, ad nauseum, when you are a kid. I mean, when you are pre-verbal isn’t pointing sort of the only way you can get your meaning across?

Besides, is there anything cuter than a little baby exploring the world and pointing one chubby hand at something fascinating and looking to you for your response?

I think not. So I think it should be amended to “it’s rude to point, unless you are under two and awfully adorable, then it’s all good.”

Rules: made to be flexed!

But talking about pointing isn’t really the point.

So, what exactly IS the point?

Today’s Theme Thursday is point, and while I’ve got a lot of quick thoughts, none of them are very coherent.

I guess my point is…this is an entire blog post that doesn’t really have a point.

Cheers to my pointlessness! For the vague shall inherit the Earth.

Photo found several places on the net but unable to find attribution. Will include attribution or remove at the request of the owner.

Karen Fayeth

Contact

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karen-at-karenfayeth dot com

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About Me

Raised most of my life in New Mexico, my job brought me to Northern California. I don't usually identify myself as a Californian, simply a New Mexican living in California. In the first couple years after moving, I distanced myself from my home state thinking it backward and remote. Then I began to visit home more frequently and truly learned a love for my home state that only comes by gaining perspective. I'm a writer, a crafter, a photographer and labor at a "real job" during the days.